London — Around half a million Indians visited the United Kingdom in a 12 month period from July 2018 to June 2019, witnessing 11 per cent growth from last year during the same period, according to the latest quarterly report on Migration Statistics published by the UK’s Office for National Statistics.

The report, published every quarter by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, also mentioned that Indian and Chinese nationals together accounted for nearly half (49 per cent) of all visitor visas granted.

The number of Indian students studying in the UK saw a 42 per cent increase. In addition to the visitor visas, nearly 22,000 Indian nationals received a Tier 4 (study) visa for the year ending June 2019, which is up from approximately 15,000 the previous year.

Dominic Asquith, British High Commissioner to India said, “It shows that the UK continues to be a welcoming place for Indians to work, study and vacation. It looks like the number of Indian fans who travelled to the UK for the Cricket World Cup in England and Wales was even greater than we imagined and I hope to see even more visitors from India in the future. The more Indians who visit, the stronger the living bridge becomes between our two countries.”